Health and wellness is a broad topic that encompasses internal and external habits that allow an individual to develop and maintain a lasting sense of well-being. The subject can be broken down into multiple branches. Cultivating physical wellness may involve establishing an exercise routine, while emotional wellness may focus on reducing stress and practicing optimism. Social wellness practices may include fostering healthy relationships, and habits for intellectual wellness involve the search for mentally stimulating activities. Other branches of health and wellness can include spiritual, occupational, environmental, and financial wellness.
Learning about health and wellness can help you lead a happy and productive life. For example, improving nutrition—a physical wellness measure—can help you avoid certain medical conditions. Health and wellness practices don't just focus on enhancing the quality of your own life. Incorporating social wellness strategies, such as performing volunteer work, can make life better for your community. In the workplace, you can model emotional health habits that will raise your team's focus, morale, and productivity.
You can find a wide array of jobs in health and wellness, including roles as a fitness instructor, therapist, or community health worker. Fitness instructors use one-on-one or group sessions to guide clients through an exercise routine that improves physical wellness. When working with individual clients, instructors tailor routines to a person's specific needs. Therapists focus on emotional wellness, using their knowledge of psychology and human behavior to help other people identify and manage mental health challenges. Therapists can appear in a variety of settings, including schools, clinics, and correctional facilities. Community health workers serve as a bridge between local communities and healthcare services. These workers have a range of duties, including performing health screenings, offering referrals, and helping patients find suitable insurance plans. Each of these three responsibilities requires specialized training that goes beyond the general knowledge of health and wellness.